Legal Issues

05/15/2012

A federal appeals court has overturned a ruling that would have required New York State to offer relocation to more than 4,000 people with mental illnesses from group homes to the community.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit said that the plaintiff, Disability Advocates, Inc., did not meet the legal qualifications to sue state agencies on behalf of its clients. The panel did not disagree with the lower court’s finding that keeping the clients in institutional homes violates the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

04/15/2012

A coalition of 79 groups has filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in the case, Florida v. HHS (United States Department of Health and Human Services).

The amicus brief, or “friend of the court” brief, is a response to the State of Florida’s lawsuit that seeks to repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). The document says the Supreme Court’s challenge to the Affordable Care Act’s expansion of Medicaid eligibility will endanger a range of federal-state programs.

02/15/2012

Cathryn Bonnette has won her first legal battle: earning the right to practice law in Washington, D.C.

On July 13th, Bonnette won her case against the D.C. Court of Appeals and the National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE), earning the right to take the exam with her chosen form of technology. She then passed the test, according to the Memorandum Opinion for the case that she filed with the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.

Bonnette is a legally blind law school graduate in Arlington, Virginia who sought to take the Multistate Bar Exam in July using a computer with the accessible screen-reading program Job Access With Speech (JAWS), according to the decision filed by U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly.

12/02/2011

An upstate New York judge has ruled that a man with physical and emotional impairments can be denied disability benefits because his condition allegedly resulted from alcohol and opioid dependence.

Judge Richard J. Arcara of the United States District Court of the Western District of New York said that the plaintiff, Charles L. Cutler, is not disabled under the Social Security Act because alcohol and substance use are a significant factor of his disability and that the plaintiff would no longer be disabled if he stopped his alleged substance use.

Disability Rights Advocates has filed a discrimination lawsuit against Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the City of New York, charging them with failing to include people with disabilities in emergency planning.

The lawsuit filed in Federal District Court in the Southern District of New York reflects on both Tropical Storm Irene and the 9/11 attacks. As the storm approached the city as a Category 1 hurricane, advocates say city officials’ televised announcements did not include sign language interpreters, evacuation maps were not usable to people with low vision and school buses that were used for evacuations did not contain lifts or seating areas for people with mobility disabilities.

John Rose has the right to enter his Co-op City home through the building’s front door, a Bronx Supreme Court judge has ruled, requiring the building’s management company to make renovations. However, the damages awarded to the tenant were far lower than what the New York City Human Rights Commission said he deserved.

Rose, who has cerebral palsy, had asked River Bay Corp. to make the front door accessible in 2008. The company said it would make the side door accessible instead and Rose said that made him feel like a “second-class citizen.”

Rose has lived in the building for 30 years. As his condition progressed, weakening his arm and leg muscles, he would sit outside the door waiting for someone to open it. When the company renovated the side door for him to use two years after his request for front door accessibility, Rose refused to use it.

11/15/2011

The fight for taxi accessibility for wheelchair users in New York City is picking up steam. A series of recent events has thrown taxi access into the spotlight and a pending court decision could influence the future of the fleet.

A class action lawsuit charging the City’s Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC) with discrimination is winding its way through the federal court system with a hearing scheduled for November 22 before United States District Judge George B. Daniels of the Southern District of New York.

Lawyer Julia Pinover of Disability Rights Advocates, the nonprofit legal center representing the plaintiffs said, “It could be a long oral argument. If the judge rules with either party, the lawsuit’s over at the trial stage.”

10/17/2011

The owner and developer of a luxury apartment building on the Upper West Side will be paying thousands of dollars to residents with disabilities following the legal settlement of a federal civil rights lawsuit.

U.S. District Judge Richard Berman has ruled that L & M 93rd Street LLC and Costas Kondylis & Partners LLP Architects prohibited access for people with disabilities in their building, The Melar. Neither company could be reached for comment.

A judge has ruled that a lawsuit by a New York City student seeking private school tuition funding after being bullied in public school for having a disability will go forward.

The student, known as L.K., charged that repeated bullying at school affected her ability to earn an education and that her school was aware of the situation and did nothing about it. The plaintiff said the school showed “deliberate indifference” to the situation, which is prohibited by Title IX, according to a summary of the case.

08/15/2011

Advocates for former inmates with mental illness have won the latest battle in an ongoing dispute with New York City over its provision of re-entry services.

The June 28 decision in the ongoing case of Brad H. v. NYC overturns an earlier decision favoring the City that had dismissed a complaint about the City’s compliance with service requirements based on the date of its filing.